Chip conveyors are finding widespread use in industry for many applications. Such conveyors include a long, continuous trough mounted in a floor recess or on a platform having directional material retaining members or barbs mounted on the inner side walls thereof. A plurality of linearly arranged, interconnected plows are mounted for reciprocating motion within the trough, and a power means, generally of the hydraulic type, is connected to one end of the assembly for reciprocating the entire train of plows backward and forward. Typical examples are illustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,777,880 and 3,828,920.
The conveyors in the prior art are not susceptable to use in association with machinery having a rotatable work table, or rotary head, for example, where chips or the like are thrown radially outwardly from the rotating element. Such arrangements usually include a funnel-type trough which surrounds the work area and feeds the chips or the like to a chip conveyor located beneath the level of the rotating table. This arrangement is not convenient due to the fact that it interferes with equipment required beneath the rotating table or element to operate the machinery. Accordingly, it is Applicant's desire to provide a material collecting apparatus arranged to encircle at least a portion of the machine tool, preferably the rotating table portion or rotary head portion thereof, to collect the chips from the machine arrangement and discharge same through an outlet for convenient collection at a single location.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a chip conveyor having an arcuate trough arrangement to facilitate the collection of material from a source having a material outlet which is also in an arcuate arrangement.
It is a further object of this invention to provide an arcuate trough wherein the arc is greater than approximately 45.degree. and may exceed 360.degree., as in the form of a spiral.
It is a further object of this invention to provide arcuate guide means for guiding the plurality of interconnected plows in an arcuate path to facilitate a movement of the material collected in the trough in the arcuate path of the trough toward the outlet.
It is a further object of this invention to provide the trough with at least one outlet adjacent one end of the trough to facilitate the dispensing of the material collected in the trough in response to the back and forth motion of the plows.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a trough which is greater than 90.degree. but less than 360.degree., and has a pair of arcuately spaced outlets, the material collected in the trough being moved through the trough by the arcuately movable plows away from the longitudinal central location of the trough in opposite directions toward the outlets.
It is a further object of this invention to locate the outlet for the trough at one or more locations to facilitate the handling of chips or the like collected from the outlet end of the conveyor.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a conveyor having retaining means or barbs which are safer to utilize and to clean than those of conventional equipment and are more efficient in effecting unidirectional movement of the conveyed material.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a conveyor having the aforesaid improvements and which is still relatively simple and inexpensive to produce.